Two similar chemical weapons atrocities, two entirely different reactions

America committed a war crime as a reaction to one and is virtually silent on the other.

Two days ago, hundreds were reported killed after a chemical weapons depot exploded in Deir ez-Zor, Syria. The blast occurred when US coalition aircraft bombed a location controlled by ISIS.

The fact that this isn’t a major story is beyond troubling; it is surreal.

On the 4th of April, Syrian planes were doing the same thing American planes did the following week; they were bombing terrorist targets. The terrorists in Idlib that Syria was bombing were either the same group or a carbon copy of the Salifist group America bombed the following week.

In both cases, chemical weapons that were illegally hoarded by terrorists exploded. Many civilians died as a consequence in each instance.

In the case of Idlib, America committed an act of war over the attack, but sadly they entered into the war on the wrong side and did so in contravention of international law.

America has publicly challenged the veracity of Russian evidence indicating that terrorists were hoarding weapons in Idlib and they also challenged the veracity of Syrian claims that hundreds died during the chemical weapons explosions which occurred in Deir ez-Zor.

America’s agenda driven conclusion has been reached in spite of scientific and overwhelming circumstantial evidence to the contrary. By contrast, no credible forensic evidence has been brought forward to lend weight to the American version of events.

Furthermore, Russia. Iran and Syria are calling for a full independent international investigation into the incident in Idlib, yet the United States refuses to support this call. As Russian’s envoy to the UN, Vladimir Safronkov recently said, if the US is so confident of their version of events, why do they resist supporting an independent investigation? Surely if they have nothing to hide, they would not be afraid of clarifying the truth.

By contrast, the US and its political and mainstream media allies have said nothing about the disaster in Deir ez-Zor other than to accuse Syria of lying about it. If such accusations are to be made, they must be backed up with evidence. Instead the US offers merely another ad hominem attack on Syria, without any justification.

If America cared at all about the proliferation of illegal chemical weapons, they would be calling for a full, impartial, internationally driven investigation of both incidents.

The duplicity, double-standards, outright lack of standards and outright hypocrisy would be shocking if it wasn’t an almost daily occurrence.